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FCC Formalizes Massive Fines For Selling, Using Cell-Phone Jammers (networkworld.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Network World: Two years ago the FCC announced its intention to fine a Chinese electronics maker $34.9 million and a Florida man $48,000 for respectively selling and using illegal cell-phone jammers. Today the agency has issued press releases telling us that those fines have finally been made official, without either of the offending parties having bothered to mount a formal defense of their actions. From the press release announcing the fine against CTS. Technology: "[...] The company's website falsely claimed that some jammers had been approved by the FCC, and advertised that the company could ship signal jammers to consumers in the United States." The company did not respond to the FCC's allegations, although the agency does report that changes were made to its website that appear to be aimed at complying with U.S. law. Next up is Florida man, Jason R. Humphreys, who is alleged to have used a jammer on his commute: "Mr. Humphreys' illegal operation of the jammer continued for up to two years, caused interference to cellular service along Interstate 4, and disrupted police communications." Last Fall, a Chicagoan was arrested for using a cell-phone jammer to make his subway commute more tolerable.
Stingrays, (aka Cell-site simulators, IMSI catchers) also violate these FCC regulations and ARE in WIDE use by law enforcement in the US from the federal level all the way down to small town police departments and many misc. state and federal agencies. And I'd argue that intercepting, monitoring, and recording all cell activity in an area, almost always without a warrant, is a far more egregious crime than just jamming cell devices nearby. But its been made pretty clear the laws no longer apply to those who "enforce them" on the plebes...
We have spent years studying wireless signals, and in the last 50 years we went from radios the size of a book, to small pocket and ear bud sized devices.
What is needed is for jamming tech to evolve too, and banning all research, study, and thinking into it doesn't help.Places likes prisons, etc should be able to monitor communications inside their area and jam them. Prisons should be able to block cell phones in their own area. Why can't prisons have 6-12 stingray type devices with directional antenna's that automatically triangulate all signals inside? Guards could quickly track down contraband phones.
yet the FCC prevents people from even studying how that could work.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
They should also take unlicensed emissions seriously. Why aren't they imposing significant fines on the use of Stingrays without a warrant?
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
How about a way to stop idiots blasting terrible music from their phones and annoying everyone else on the train/bus.
These two stories about jammers seem to indicate that the only reason these people got caught is that they had dumb jammers that just continuously broadcast, making their triangulation easy.
Where are the smart jammers that operate at low power thresholds and operate intermittently -- some pattern of briefly on, then off, then on again, in a kind of random backoff cycle before going off? Or have some kind of passive radio detection to not transmit unless there is a nearby handset in use signature?
The idea would be a jammer that produced enough interference to disrupt and discourage use in a narrow local window, but with a limited on profile such that it was much harder to detect.